The men’s gold medal match of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Cape Town reunited two of the hottest teams in international beach volleyball with Anders Mol and Christian Sørum confirming once again they remain the team to beat.

The Norwegian reigning Olympic and world champions completed a perfect week of play at the Grand Parade with their sixth-straight two-set victory, a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win over Swedish rising stars David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig in the final. Qataris Cherif Younousse and Cherif Ahmed took bronze.

· All matches of the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Cape Town are available on Volleyball TV.

The victory in Cape Town was the fourth for the Norwegians in eight international tournaments played this year – they also topped the podium at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and in Beach Pro Tour Elite16 events in Ostrava and Paris. They were forced to abandon three tournaments due to injuries, but have now won their last 20 matches.

The title in South Africa, which was earned with six wins and no sets dropped, adds something new to Mol and Sørum’s career as, after topping the podium at tournaments held in Europe, Asia, North and South America, they have now achieved that feat in Africa too.

“Cape Town is amazing,” Sørum said. “We came here on vacation last year and got to see the city, it’s really beautiful. We hope to be back next year and meet all these incredible fans that were here supporting us this time.”

The gold medal match in Cape Town featured another chapter of what is a still recent rivalry, but one that could continue for several years. Norwegians and Swedish have now faced each other three times, all in 2022, and the Beach Volley Vikings won on two occasions, but Åhman and Hellvig beat them in the semifinals of this year’s European Championship, ending Mol and Sørum’s dream of winning a fifth-straight continental title.

“That was intense, it was one of our best matches this year,” Mol reacted, following the final in Cape Town. “Sweden are such a young and talented team and it’s really annoying to play against them – they’re annoyingly good. We’re looking forward to having other great battles with them in the future.”

Beach Pro Tour Cape Town Elite16 - Results

The Norwegians started the gold medal match stronger and quickly built a 3-1 lead. The Olympic champions’ advantage increased another point when Mol got his first block in the match, stopping Hellvig to score 7-4. A transition play from Sørum placed the Vikings five points clear at 14-9, but a mistake narrowed the edge to 16-13. The Norwegians, however, were able to maintain their advantage until the end, taking the first set 21-19 with a kill from Sørum.

The second set started even, with the teams exchanging points until a ball-handling error from Åhman gave the Norwegians the first two-point lead at 7-5. That, however, didn’t last, as the Swedish scored three in a row to leap ahead at 8-7. An offensive error by Sørum placed the European champions two points up at 10-8, but the Vikings fought back to tie the set at 14 points. Back-to-back blocks from Mol got the Norwegians in control at 19-17 and a kill from Sørum confirmed another 21-19 set victory.

Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists Cherif and Ahmed filled the last spot on the podium after they triumphed over Austrians Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller in the two-set (22-20, 21-14) bronze medal match in Cape Town. It was the fourth Beach Pro Tour medal for the Qataris this season – they took gold at the Rosarito Elite16 and the Maldives Challenge and silver at the Jurmala Elite16.

“It was a tough match against Austria,” Cherif analysed. “They are a good team and we had some trouble in the first set, but after we adjusted our strategy things went better. We also got a lot of energy from the fans here, I loved playing in Cape Town. I really enjoyed coming to South Africa for the first time and am already looking forward to coming back.”

The Brazilian city of Uberlandia will be the next destination of the Beach Pro Tour. The Elite16 tournament there will be played next week, from November 9-13.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Cape Town Elite16
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